208 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
The table given above does not in- 
clude a payment of $900 which was 
made to the Arthur Young Company 
for a report on the grading and classi-' 
fication of positions and a suggested 
set of civil service rules, which re- 
port and classification were contracted 
for by the West Chicago Park Com- 
missioners on June 29, 1911. 
During the six months from July 1, 
1911, to December 31, 1911, authority 
was granted for the filling of fifty- 
nine positions. Twenty of these po- 
sitions were filled during the period 
from July 1st to September 1st, when 
the present Civil Service Board was 
not yet organized. Of the remaining 
thirty-nine positions which were filled 
during the period from September 1st 
to December 31st, twenty were those 
of laborers who were employed on 
emergency for periods of two or three 
days after heavy snowstorms; nine 
were for vacancies for less than two 
weeks which were caused by the ab- 
sence of regular employees on ac- 
count of sickness, vacation or holi- 
days; nine were for positions for 
which no eligible lists existed and one 
was for temporary employment ren- 
dered necessary by the installation of 
a new accounting system in the Ad- 
ministration Department. 
The smallness of the number of 
laborers employed on temporary au- 
thority for cleaning the boulevards 
after snowstorms is due to the efforts 
put forth to temporarily reinstate civil 
service employees who had been pre- 
At the special election held in Granite 
City, 111., Oct. 22, the proposition of a 
$43,600 bond issue for the purpose of 
purchasing two sites for park purposes 
was defeated by a vote of nearly 7 to 1. 
Two thousand trees in Forest Park, 
St. Louis, Mo., will be marked for 
chopping down this winter. This num- 
ber have died wholly or in part during 
the summer and their loss will lead to 
a wholesale planting in Forest Park 
next spring. In St. Louis the last sum- 
mer has been very severe on the trees 
and more of the most valuable trees in 
the public parks have died than “in any 
other year I can remember,” says Park 
Commissioner Dwight F. Davis. 
A municipal greenhouse will be erect- 
ed in the City Park, Kansas City, Kan., 
to take care of the park department 
flowers. Cost, $1,500. 
viously laid off from positions of la- 
borer. Every means of providing re- 
instatement was used during such 
emergencies, which would not hamper 
the rapid and economical removal of 
the snow. It was felt that in this way 
some of the employees laid off during 
the winter season could be given a 
little employment, and the spirit of 
the civil service law could be more 
strictly adhered to at the same time. 
The work of holding examinations 
and creating eligible lists was taken 
up as soon as possible after the or- 
ganization of the Civil Service Board. 
The lack of office space available in 
the general offices of the West Chi- 
cago Park Commissioners made it 
necessary to rent and furnish a tem- 
porary office and all the work of in- 
stituting the civil service system was 
delayed somewhat on that account. 
However, the first examination was 
held on November 3, 1911, and a total 
of eight examinations were held be- 
fore the close of the year. Under the 
present conditions it is necessary to 
carry on examinations in the park 
pavilions and in the assembly halls in 
the field houses. Since these are all 
somewhat distant from the Civil Serv- 
ice office, the holding of examinations 
interferes to no small degree with the 
regular office routine. It is hoped 
that with the completion of the addi- 
tion to the general offices in Union 
Park it will be possible to arrange for 
the holding of some of the examina- 
tions at that place. 
Forty thousand tulip bulbs have been 
planted in the Minneapolis, Minn., parks. 
As soon as the ground begins to freeze, 
a slight covering will be thrown over 
the bulbs. The season for planting the 
hardier bulbs will last until the ground 
is frozen, or well into November. The 
varieties that will be most in evidence 
in Minneapolis park gardens next spring 
will be the peony, numerous varieties 
of hyacinth, early tulips of various col- 
ors, narcissus or daffodil, crocus and 
snowdrop. 
Park Commissioner Burk, Trenton, N. 
J., is working on a plan for the in- 
creased lighting facilities of the Tenth 
Ward Park. He proposes to have lights 
of an ornamental design installed in the 
park, and a sufficient number of them 
to provide adequate illumination. The 
posts will be similar to those recently 
erected in the Bronx Park, New York, 
manufactured by the J. L. Mott Iron 
Works. 
The total area of the Springfield, III, 
park system is 368.8 acres, with five 
miles of drives. The bonds outstanding 
on May 31, 1912, amounted to $159,000. 
The installation of the new electric light 
system is in progress. 
If the budget committee of the city 
council will pass an item of $45,000 in 
the park board’s estimate for next year, 
St. Paul, Minn., will have public golf 
links in the near future. That sum is 
required to buy land near Como and 
Phalen parks. The board has favored 
the establishment of links for some 
time, but has been unable to find any 
suitable location in the park lands now 
owned. 
By the will of Theodore W. Wood- 
man, recently probated, the city of Do- 
ver, N. H., is to receive $10,000 with 
which to establish a park. Other be- 
quests of a public nature include $2,500 
to be used in purchasing an organ for 
the Ricker memorial chapel at Pine Hill 
cemetery, and $1,000 to the Dover Chil- 
dren’s Home Association. 
The construction of a parkway 
through and surrounding the city of 
Cincinnati, O., comprising in all more 
than 100 miles of beautiful drives, in- 
terspersed with parks, playgrounds and 
athletic fields, is the object of the Board 
of Park Commissioners having in charge 
the development of the Kessler scheme. 
To convert this gigantic plan into a 
reality that will place Cincinnati on a 
plane with other municipalities which 
have long ago realized the value of a 
“city beautiful,” will require, the Park 
Commissioners say, at least six years of 
work and the expenditure of several 
million dollars. 
In return for remission of taxes and 
a purely nominal rental, the Grand 
Trunk Railway offers Windsor, Ontario, 
a 20-year lease of river front property 
at the foot of Church street. 
The state of New Jersey has paid into 
the court of chancery $23,800, which rep- 
resents the amount offered by the state 
for certain lands wanted in connection 
with the restoration of the old barracks 
at Trenton, N. J., as a part of the 
State Capitol park. The condemnation 
sums were fixed by a commission re- 
cently appointed. The court of chan- 
cery will disburse the money and the 
land then will become vested in the 
state. 
The creation of the office of City For- 
ester for St. Paul, Minn., has been sug- 
gested by the Men’s Garden Club, 
through the secretary, Mr. Z. H. 
Thomas. 
Initial action was taken on October 
PARK NEWS. 
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